July 2010
12 posts
3 tags
Cherry Cornmeal Upside-Down Cake
Cherries and I have not always been on amicable terms. In fact, there was a time when I stayed far far away from desserts that incorporated cherries, ESPECIALLY those that were topped with those frighteningly bright and plastic-looking preserved cherries (yes, I’m talking to you maraschinos!). I feel that this was a result of overexposure to sickeningly sweet “cherry” flavored...
June 2010
16 posts
A Funfetti Wedding Cake: The Assembly and The...
Well, we actually did it! We successfully baked, assembled, and presented a 3-tiered Funfetti Wedding Cake!
The night before the big day, we whipped up batches of vanilla buttercream frosting,
filled each layer with chocolate ganache,
and frosted each cake with an underlayer of frosting, as well as inserted dowels to aid in the assembly of the tiers on top of each other.
The morning of,...
A Funfetti Wedding Cake: The Baking.
The week of Jamie and Brad’s wedding is finally HERE, I can hardly believe it! But in a few days (which I’m sure will fly by as the last few months have), we will be on our way to Kimball Farm, where they will be wedded; and after the ceremony, all the guests will be able to play mini-golf, beach volleyball, pitch and putt, bumper boats, and use the driving range and batting cages...
Hello Summer
Well friends, it is officially summer!!
Although I no longer have a summer break, I still look forward to the summertime with the same anticipation as I did in my school-uniform-wearing days. Everyone is in a more relaxed and pleasant mood because all the snow and ice has melted, the sun is WARM and shining. I am excited for the month(s?) ahead of eating lunch outside, grilling on our balcony,...
2 tags
Crispy Cornbread
I know that cornbread can be a rather underwhelming experience- it’s always served as a SIDE to something, it’s not particularly sweet or fluffy, crusty or there is no chocolate, fruit bits, or nuts. But because I am such an avid fan of ALL things baked (especially those in bread or muffin form or those that have crusts), even cornbread has a special place in my heart. I practically...
5 tags
Crab Cakes and a Poached Egg: Crabby Benedict?
This endeavor was supposed to be about the crab cakes. It ended up being about the poached eggs. Who knew dropping an egg into almost-boiling-water would be so hard the first (three) times?!
The first time I ever had eggs benedict was only this past year at brunch with the girls at Stephanie’s on Newbury. It was 2 poached eggs served atop 2 crabcakes with a jalapeno hollandaise and I was...
5 tags
Shrimp and Grits
I used to hate Bobby Flay.
Back in the day before Food Network’s Iron Chef America, PBS aired Japan’s Iron Chef (in Japanese with subtitles!) and a brash young red-haired chef from NYC traveled to Japan to challenge Chef Masaharu Morimoto, an emerging master of innovative Japanese cuisine. At the end of the battle, the American chef jumped onto his cutting board and cockily raised...
5 tags
Poppy Seed Lemon Cake
I should be posting about strawberries and rhubarb and embracing the long-awaited appearance of spring/summer produce. (AND WEATHER!!! yippeee!! I think everyone within EARSHOT of me knows I’ve been eagerly awaiting this time of the year since last December!) Plus I’ve already posted a citrus-y dessert a week ago, and here I am, back with another lemon-flavored confection....
4 tags
Heidi's Delicious Big Bowl
In Chinese, the word “to eat” can be literally translated to “to eat RICE”- which pretty much sums up how us Asians feel about rice. Growing up, we ate white steamed rice almost every night- usually with home-cooked Chinese food, but also with more Americanized food such as BBQ ribs and rib-eye steaks. It just wasn’t a meal if there wasn’t rice!
...
5 tags
Lemon Meringue Pie
I baked this pie. For someone that I love.
And then while putting away two leftover mini-pies, I masterfully managed to DROP them both. On my leg, on its way to the kitchen floor. Meringue does not come out of cotton easily. Smooth, I know.
Lemon Meringue Pie
from America’s Test Ktichen’s Baked Illustrated
This recipe was interesting for a two reasons:
The pie crust...
3 tags
Steamed Mussels in White Wine Broth
Mussels were always one of those dishes that I never order at a restaurant because:
mussels (along with their mollusk-y brethren) seem a tad hoity-toity- give me an order of nachos any day.
the dish as a whole is a bit unreliable given that its success is largely dependent on how fresh the mussels are, and who really knows how often the restaurant you are currently seated in gets shipments of...
